Rules on going to the toilet at work?

Fire_Fox

Zazen999 wrote: »

Firefox - humour me. What is Bestpud apologising for exactly?

How about the three sarcastic smilies and numerous superfluous exclamation marks in the post I quoted? I found the entire post rude and dismissive to someone who, IMO, had made a reasonable plea for responses to be pleasant. Furthermore Bestpud's post contained a nonsensical insinuation of malingering directed at ... well half the British population presumably!

Zazen999

Fire_Fox wrote: »

How about the three sarcastic smilies and numerous superfluous exclamation marks in the post I quoted? I found the entire post rude and dismissive to someone who, IMO, had made a reasonable plea for responses to be pleasant. Furthermore Bestpud's post contained a nonsensical insinuation of malingering directed at ... well half the British population presumably!

Strange how people read completely different things; I thought Bestpud was saying follow the company procedure and that not everyone had medical conditions.

Fire_Fox

Zazen999 wrote: »

Strange how people read completely different things; I thought Bestpud was saying follow the company procedure and that not everyone had medical conditions.

I don't doubt that's what he/she was saying: it was the general manner and foundation of this that I took issue with:
"always got to be a medical condition these days hasn't there? :rolleyes: We must be a very unhealthy nation, that's all I can say"

Zazen999

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I don't doubt that's what he/she was saying: it was the general manner and foundation of this that I took issue with:
"always got to be a medical condition these days hasn't there? :rolleyes: We must be a very unhealthy nation, that's all I can say"

Well, she's got a point.....there does seem to be a condition to every conceivable issue....the more conditions the more excuses people can make. :rolleyes:

Miss-spent_2

I am quite surprised that anyone is stopped from going to toilet if they need to. What do checkout operators do?
As a teacher it is a dilema because you can not leave a class unattended but fortunately there is now often additional support staff around or you can ask a pupils to go to the office to ask for an adult to cover.
I do think that a lot of people do not understand that you can't always know what will happen.
As you get older things happen , women and periods, horrible I know but even more horrible for us, infections, IBS, food poisoning, sickness, menopause, pregnancy can all require an urgent visit to the toilet before bodily fluids are spilt in public. I thnk a visit to the toilet is a basic human right.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Obukit wrote: »

You say you don't want to be treated like a four year old but at the moment, in my opinion, this is how you are acting - no adult suddenly HAS to go to the toilet that second,

Lol - erm i take it you have never had kids? For about 6 months after having my daughter (and in fact through 95% of my pregnancy) if i needed a wee, i needed a wee immediately - trust me that is far more embarassing than a team leader needing to ask where there staff have popped off too.

On the other hand if the OP is taking too many of these loo breaks then yes i can certainly see it from the TL's point of view. But the rude manner in which they were approached about it is simply wrong and needs to be pulled up to ensure this type of belittleing (spelling ???) doesn't happen again.

On the the op's side, most of us women cannot 'hold it' nearly as long as a man seems to. Plus with the increased risk of cistitis, which will then mean you are in the loo every 5mins trying to force a wee out as punishment for holding it in for too long in the first place (been there done it a million times trying to hold out for another 20mins) :rotfl:i don't think it's advisable to hold it for too long at all.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

icequeen1969 wrote: »

Are you sure youve not got a urine infection, or some other underlying problem. I know some people need to go to the loo more often than others but not being able to hold a wee for a 3 hour shift is pretty bad really. .

I'm sure holding a wee regularly for 3 hours will give you cistitis though. I can regularly go for a 3 hr shift without a wee but if one comes on (i try to drink the daily reccomended quota of water - which leads to many wees) then i need to go within at least 45mins or i'll be twitching like i have ants or something. I think its more about being comfortable - no person should be expected to be severly uncomfortable while doing any work shift though (needing a wee can be severly uncomfortable). But i think possibly telling the team leader (even if she is 16 which shouldn't matter anyway) should be suitable and a better choice than telling another random member of staff - i would have told the manager what i thought (in a stern but not rude way) though if he ever spoke down to me like that. I have done it before and even had a round of applause from the other staff (the manager was a b**ch and everyone feared her) and i even got an appology later that day from the manager...:T. I must say we got on much better from that day forth :rotfl:

I think a serious chat is in need - speak directly to the manager in private and not moan to the other staff as this'll make matters 10 times worse. Tell him your situation and that you are not happy and see if there can be a compromise.

babyshoes

I think the problem here is that the other managers don't make the OP tell them when she needs the loo - this system of telling another member of staff where she has gone and asking them to cover for her is one that has obviously been used in the past with no problems - so which is the correct way to do it?

OP, I think you need to clarify with your HR department what the correct procedure is for your company - it may be that this manager is just enforcing the rules which other managers have not done before, albeit in a very unprofessional way!

If it turns out that there either is no set procedure or if you have been doing it correctly all along, then you should speak to a senior manager and explain the difficulties you are having such the condescending telling off, the immature manner and the fact that s/he is not always available to ask at the time you need to go and it could get urgent to the point of embarassement.

Are you a union member? If you get no joy from any of the above, you could try talking to your union rep. (even if you aren't a member, they should be able to give you some help, especially since this is something that could be affecting others who don't feel they can speak up.)

It sounds to me like the new manager is on a bit of a power trip, whether s/he is right or wrong about you having to ask a manager for a toilet break. There will always be people like that to deal with in life, the trick is learning to deal with them!

Debt_Free_Chick

Whilst I accept the point about being on the shop floor and checking that it's OK to leave, I have a basic problem with anyone - adult or child - having to ask permission to visit the loo. Think about it for a moment ...... can permission be refused? On what basis?

Only a crazy meglamaniac would insist on staff asking permission. As the OP indicated she (a) chose a suitable quiet time and (b) let a colleague know that she was leaving the shop floor for a short time for a necessary purpose. Nothing more is required, surely ....?

Zazen999

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Whilst I accept the point about being on the shop floor and checking that it's OK to leave, I have a basic problem with anyone - adult or child - having to ask permission to visit the loo. Think about it for a moment ...... can permission be refused? On what basis?

Only a crazy meglamaniac would insist on staff asking permission. As the OP indicated she (a) chose a suitable quiet time and (b) let a colleague know that she was leaving the shop floor for a short time for a necessary purpose. Nothing more is required, surely ....?

Precisely; it is downright degrading and is not the behaviour of grown adults.